...“The picture of college basketball painted by the charges is not a pretty one,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim, adding that the defendants were “circling blue-chip prospects like coyotes” and exploited them to enrich themselves.

Prosecutors said that while some of the bribe money went to athletes and their families, some went to coaches, to get them to use their influence over their potentially NBA-bound players.

he coaches charged are Chuck Person of Auburn, Emanuel Richardson of Arizona, Tony Bland of Southern California and Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State. Person and Evans were immediately suspended.

Those charged also include James Gatto, director of global sports marketing for basketball at Adidas; Rashan Michel, a maker of custom suits for some of the NBA’s biggest stars; and various financial advisers and managers.

FBI brings Armageddon to college basketball, and it's just the tip of the iceberg

...Fraud and corruption in the world of college basketball,” Joon H. Kim, Acting U.S. Attorney said at a news conference in Manhattan on Tuesday.

Assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and USC were all arrested and their programs are almost certainly in dire straights with both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and NCAA. The evidence here is based on an undercover FBI agent, wiretapped phones, recordings, written communication and financial transaction data. The feds win nearly every case for a reason. And the indicted haven’t even started flipping yet.

Also in the crossfire is so-called “University 2,” which in the complaints is described in a way that resembles the University of South Carolina and only the University of South Carolina – “a public research university located in South Carolina … with over 30,000 students …”

Then there is “University 6” which is described in a way that resembles the University of Louisville and only the University of Louisville, linking it to a $100,000 payout for one recruit and a potential $150,000 payout for another, all while on probation for a scandal involving using prostitutes to lure other recruits. “University 6” doesn’t appear to be in any legal trouble, yet, but the NCAA is another story.

...Each of the four coaches has been considered a strong recruiter for some time and there’s little doubt their alleged actions could have serious ramifications on the recruiting trail. More than likely, it’s also going to lead to serious staff shakeups.

As things stand, Arizona looks like they could be subject to the most significant impact. It fired Richardson on Tuesday afternoon.

Arizona has the No. 2 ranked 2018 recruiting class and they are coming off of a class that ranked No. 3 overall in 2017. Sean Miller’s phone has to be burning up with phone calls from committed players like five-star point guard Jahvon Quinerly, five-star power forward Shareef O’Neal and four-star point guard Brandon Williams. There’s also no question that other programs are contacting those players to see if they are steady.

It is also relevant to note that if it is found any of those players accepted bribes to commit to Arizona or any of the other three schools, the NCAA would likely rule them ineligible.

...Now, Bowen is one of the leading figures in a huge college basketball scandal. On Tuesday, 10 people, including Adidas executives and assistant coaches from Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Southern California, are facing federal bribery, fraud and other corruption charges related to paying the recruits’ families to attend certain colleges.

Bowen, a 6-8 forward, averaged 21.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists to lead La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) to the season-ending No. 1 spot in the Super 25 boys basketball rankings. He played a key role in lifting the Lakers to a win in the DICK’S Sporting Goods High School Nationals.

If you read between the lines of the FBI’s 29-page criminal complaint that was released Tuesday, an Adidas executive paid Bowen’s family $100,000 to play at Louisville, an Adidas-sponsored school.

It didn’t take long after Miami admitted it was under FBI investigation for the ongoing amateur basketball scandal to impact its recruiting prospects.

As first reported by Josh White, the senior sports writer for the Miami Hurricane student newspaper, and later reported by SB Nation’s Syracuse website Nunes Magician, four-star prospect Jalen Carey has eliminated Miami from the schools he is considering for a college destination. Carey, a New York-based point guard who stars for New Jersey Catholic school Immaculate Conception, was expected to choose between Miami, UConn and Syracuse but will now likely choose between the two latter programs, with Kansas, Villanova and Rutgers also still in the contention.

While Carey was by no means a surefire Miami commit, his decision to eliminate the Hurricanes from contention is still a blow to the program’s potential 2018 class.